Which screening is due at my age?
Intervals are not the same for everyone: the smear belongs to every annual check-up, mammography is added from 45, and the general laboratory values go through your GP. The planner shows what is due at your age, what public insurance covers and what the next ten years hold.
The whole programme at a glance
| Examination | Age | Interval | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gynaecological check-up | 18+ | annually | covered by public insurance via the e-card |
| Cervical smear (Pap test) | 20+ | annually | covered by public insurance |
| HPV test – for further assessment | 30+ | when a smear is abnormal – at the following appointment | covered only where there is an indication; otherwise you pay for it yourself |
| HPV vaccination | 9–30 | two doses six to twelve months apart | free in the national programme up to the 21st birthday, self-funded after that |
| Mammography on request | 40–44 | every 2 years | free of charge after registering for the programme |
| Screening mammography | 45–74 | every 2 years | free of charge, e-card enabled automatically |
| Mammography from 75 | 75+ | every 2 years | free of charge after registering |
| General health check | 18+ | annually | covered by public insurance via the e-card – at your GP |
| Bowel cancer screening | 50+ | colonoscopy every 10 years or a stool test annually | covered by public insurance – arranged through your GP |
| Bone density scan | 50+ | if risk factors are present, otherwise on medical assessment | where there is a corresponding indication |
| Pre-conception check | 18–45 | once, when planning a pregnancy | partly covered; the general laboratory values through your GP |
The HPV test: recommendation and reality
From the age of 30 the HPV test is an alternative route to early detection: it picks up precancerous changes earlier and more reliably, and a negative result makes a cancer in the years ahead less likely. It does not replace the smear, though – some precancerous changes and cancers are HPV negative and show only in the cells.
Austrian public insurance does not pay for the HPV test as a routine screening examination. It is covered only for certain indications – above all an abnormal smear. On request it can be done at any age, but you pay for it yourself.
That is why this practice takes the smear at every check-up, at every age, and adds the HPV test when the smear calls for it – at the following appointment, and then covered. A positive HPV result alongside normal cells changes nothing that could be treated; what it produces is worry with no consequence.
One more thing that regularly causes confusion: the general laboratory values – blood count, blood sugar, blood lipids, thyroid – belong to the health check at your GP. Only there does public insurance cover them.
Mammography: no referral needed
Between 45 and 74 your e-card is automatically unlocked for the screening programme: make an appointment at a participating radiology practice and go. From 40 to 44 and from 75 on, a one-off registration is required – by phone on 0800 500 181 or at frueh-erkennen.at.
Sources
It works with averages. Your body does not. The result is a starting point for a conversation, not a finding – and it cannot see what an examination would show.
Questions about your result? Arrange an appointment.